Hyderabad police name nine accused in CPI leader’s murder; key suspects still at large

Hyderabad: Police have named nine individuals in connection with the murder of CPI leader K. Chandu Rathod. While a Maruti Swift car used by the suspects to track Chandu’s movements was seized from a rental agency in Kothapet, the prime accused remain on the run, having switched off their phones after the killing to evade capture.

On Wednesday, police seized the car from a rental agency in Kothapet after identifying its owner in Peerzadiguda through registration details. The owner said that she had leased her car to a rental agency in Kothapet. Police officials confiscated the vehicle from the agency.

After committing the crime, the accused fled towards Dilsukhnagar. While three of them got off on the main road, one of the suspects identified as Yedu Kondalu returned the car to the rental agency in Kothapet before absconding.

The last known location of the accused was near Nagole metro station. “They changed two more cars and fled the city. The firearm was supplied by Srinu, an associate of Rajesh. Our teams are trying to locate him. We suspect that Rajesh could be the shooter, but we can confirm only after arresting him. We have rounded up about half a dozen of Rajesh’s associates to trace him,” said a south-east zone police official.

Investigators also revealed that a week before Chandu’s murder, a CPI worker had alerted the family of threats to his life. The alert was reportedly communicated by a girlfriend of Kandula Sudhakar, an associate of Rajesh, to her friend Faimeeda Begum — a CPI worker from Kuntloor — who in turn passed on the information to Chandu and his wife Naribai.

In her police complaint, Naribai said, “One week ago, Sudhakar’s lover informed Faimeeda that my husband was under threat from Rajesh alias Rajanna, Sudhakar, Rayudu, and Munna. Faimeeda alerted my husband, but he reassured the party members that nothing would happen to him.”

Naribai further alleged that Chandu was falsely implicated in the 2022 murder of MRPS activist Bhanu Chander by Sudhakar, Rayudu, and Munna, all associates of Rajesh. “In December 2022, Rajesh approached my husband with a proposal to mobilise a 1,000 people to build huts on 100 acres of land in Kuntloor. When my husband rejected the proposal, Rajesh, along with his associates Ravindra Chary and Yadireddy, colluded and began extorting money from the hut dwellers, promising them land registration documents,” Naribai said in her police statement.

Based on her complaint, police registered a case under sections 103(1) (murder), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 115(1) (voluntarily causing hurt), read with 3(5) (common intention) of the BNS and the Arms Act against Rajesh, Prashanth, Yedu Kondalu, and an unknown person who directly participated in the murder, and Rajesh’s associates Sudhakar, Rayudu, Munna, Ravindra Chary and Yadireddy.

“All of the accused are on the run. Our teams are looking for them,” Malakpet inspector P Naresh said.